Opponents point to the president’s dismissal of inspectors general and pardons of people convicted of fraud as they challenge his new program.
President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance announced on Tuesday a new incentive for American citizens to report cases of federal fraud, declaring the whistleblower program will make them “rich.”
The Fraud Whistleblower Incentive Program (WHIP) is a $25 million initiative that the White House claims will reward individuals with 1% of the total fraud they uncover.
President Trump, joined by Vice President Vance, Dr. Mehmet Oz, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and members of the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, told reporters inside the Oval Office that the program will “expand” on the anti-fraud work Vance and the task force have been working on since March.
“They’re going to become rich,” he said of potential whistleblowers. “When you get 1% of a billion dollars, 1% of $100 billion, it’s going to be a tremendous amount of money. It’s the largest commission ever paid, probably for anything anywhere.”
The Trump administration, for nearly two years, has claimed that mostly Democratic-run states have allowed fraudsters to siphon federal dollars meant for America’s neediest for their own personal gain. The White House has particularly focused on states like Minnesota, where the administration has targeted the Somali community in Minneapolis.
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